Truthbook Religious News Blog

Fri, July 12, 2013

Jesus as a Feminist

By Abigail Muldoon

This article caught my eye - of course - because in many womens' eyes, Jesus was not only a feminist - maybe the FIRST feminist ever - but he was a true champion of women and women's rights, even in a time when that was a truly revolutionary mind-set among men. Female Urantia Book readers know that Jesus ALWAYS has their back! Please see our blog below, but first, here's a taste of the article called Jesus as a Feminist by Abigail muldoon - really a blog - that speaks so well of the Master in this regard:

"It’s apparent in scripture that Jesus was what we today would consider a feminist; meaning he cared about establishing equality for people of all genders. And to me, that is really what being a feminist Christian is all about: My faith informs my feminism; I am a feminist because Jesus was a feminist. There are a multiple stories in scripture where Jesus completely overturns socially established gender roles showing a new way for the Kingdom of God: There is the story in John 8 where Jesus refuses to condemn a woman caught in adultery and instead convicts the hearts of the male teachers and the Pharisees condemning her, there is the story in Luke 7 where Jesus validates a poor women’s choice to wash His feet in a culture where having a sinful woman touch a rabbi would have labeled the rabbi contaminated, and of course the very popular story in Luke 10 where Jesus affirms a woman’s agency in choosing how to respond to His teachings over being limited by society’s expectation of her behavior due to her gender. These are all great stories that show Christ’s love and passion for social justice for those marginalized, but there is so much more within scripture that shows Jesus’ compassion for women and refusal to live by a sexist social discourse. One verse in particular is easy to miss, but there is so much depth when you dig deeper.

"When Jesus and his disciples were traveling between villages and towns teaching to all those willing to hear, it was recorded that “the twelve [disciples] were with him and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases” (Luke 8:1-2). While this brief mention of women traveling with Jesus seems unimportant and almost negligible when trying to understand Jesus’ relationship to women, deeper prodding reveals that there is much to say from this simple statement."

This is part of a blog entry that celebrates the fact that Jesus-even in the Bible-appeared to be a champion of gender-equality. Even in his day and times, when women were relegated to the home and were generally more "seen but not heard," Jesus took their part. We can glean some sense of this through rerading the Bible, but in The Urantia Book Jesus often emerged as an outspoken champion of women

There are many, many places in The Urantia Book where we see this attitude of Jesus, but none more dramatically than when he established the Women's Corps.This was an astonishing act, even to his apostles, who likely had a very difficult time reconciling themselves to the Master's big heart and generous spirit when it came to women. You can read about the Women's Corps HERE

But this was not the only time that Jesus included women-in his life and in his mnistry. Jesus had a lot of contact with many women throughout his life-starting with his mother, Mary, all the way up to the event of his crucifixion, which was attended by several of his life-long female disciples and friends.

Please see our topical study on "Jesus and Women" for more refreshing revelations about this God/man who loved women every bit as much as he loved men. Jesus was also a revelation of God the Father, and proclaimed that "He who has seen me has seen the Father." From this we can infer that this gentle attitude of inclusiveness is an attribute of God himself.

Finally, here are some Urantia Book references for the stories mentioned in the article above. Try them...you'll like what you read!: